Elevato



(No Model.) 2 SheetsShegt 1. G. P. STANFORD.

ELEVATOR HATCH. No. 478,029.

Patented June 28, 1892.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

0. P. STANFORD.

ELEVATOR HATCH.

Patnted June 28, 1892.

.I iIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIF-in UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES P. STANFORD, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

ELEVATQR HATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 178,029, dated June 28,1892. Application filed September 10, 1891. Serial No. 405,323. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES P. STANFORD, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California,have invented an Improvement in Elevator-Hatches; and I hereby declarethe following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to certain improvements in automatically operatedelevator hatches or doors such as are employed to close the openings inthe floors of buildings through which elevator-cages pass or which maybe used at any desired intervals to cut close the elevator-well.

My present invention is an improvement upon an elevator-hatch for whicha patent was issued to me July 8, 1890, No. 431,676; and it consists incertain details of construcoif and tion which will be more fullyexplained by.

reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is aperspective view of a portlon .of the elevator, showing the hatches openand the cage about them. Fig. 2 shows the hatch closed. Fig. 3 is anenlarged'perspective section showing the lugs R, part of the cage, andits side timbers. Fig. 4 is a section showing a side View of the sameand the guide-timbers. Fig. 5 shows the screw for producing a sidemovement of the doors.

A represents a floor having an opening through it of sufiicient size forthe passage of the elevator-cage B. r g

O C are the Vertical guides by which the cage is directed and steadiedin its movements, situated upon the opposite sides of theelevator-well,andD D are the two doors, each adapted to cover one-halfthe opening.

The guide-timbers O are fixed upon opposite sides of the elevator-welland midway between the corners, and each of these main timbers has acentralprojecting lip or guideflange 0', upon which the cage travels andby which it is steadied as it moves up and down in the elevator-well.

The doors D are hinged upon shafts E,

which are journaled parallel with the oppo site sides of thehatchway-opening and sufficiently above the level of the floor A toallow the hatches to close upon this floor. As each of the doors Dcovers one-half of the opening, each shaft extends from the guidetimberC within which it is journaled to a journal-box upon the floor beyondthe edge of the opening, and the shafts havean end movement in thesejournals by which, when the doors are opened, they are moved outwardlyand away from the guide-timbers sufliciently to allow them to open intoa vertical position and clear the sides of these guide-timbers. Whenthey are closed, they are again gradually drawn inward until theyoverlapthe guidetimbers sufficiently to bring their inner edges approximatelytogether, so as to entirely close the opening through the floor, withthe oxception of a central holeof sufficient size to allow the rope orthe ram to pass in case either of'these devices is employed to raise andlower the cage. This side movement of the doors is produced by rods in aposition diagonal to the line of the shaft, having one end attached tosome part of the door and the other end to a fixed support or by a screwor cam upon the shaft or by other equivalent device. As illustrated bythe door upon one side, tilting levers F extend upward from the hingesand are bent at right angles, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. To theseupwardly-extending arms are connected rods G, which extend diagonallyaway from the hinges and have their opposite ends connected with asuitable fixture or support H, which allows the rods perfectly-freemovement, but which by reason of their angular position with referencetov the hinge will push the hinge and the door away from the center whenthe door is opened and will again draw ittoward the center when the dooris closed. 5 The same effect will be produced by connecting one end ofthe rod with the side of the guide-post and having the fixture to whichthe other endis connected attached to the top of the door, so that therod extends in an angular direction between its two attachments. I haveshown both these devices, either of which acts in essentiallythe sameway, the object being to produce the side movement of the door by theangular'position of the rod with reference to the open ing and closingdoor. InFig.'5 have shown the same result produced by a screw.' In orderto open these doors when the cage ap proaches from below, I have shownthe side bars I attached to the cageone a little to are arched or curvedat the top and may be made slightly elastic at their free ends, so thatwhen they touch the doors from below the shock will not be too abrupt.As the cage rises these arched portions act to force the doors open, andas the doors are gradually opened the side shifting devices act to pushthem outwardly from the central line until they are clear of the sidesof the posts, and

they will then open into a vertical position, standing by the sides ofthe posts. J are attached to the sides of the guide-posts,

so that they press against the doors near the hinges with a sufficienttension to cause the doors to commence to close promptly as soon as thecage has passed in either direction.

- The outer ends of the angular extensions of levers L, which are fulcrumed upon the outer sides of the guide-timbers G. nect with the leversbetween the fulcrumed points and the outer ends, so that while themovements of these rods are small and desiderably greater movement. ofthe levers L have rodsM connected with them and extending upwardlyalongside the guide-posts 0.

Upon the posts 0 are fixed supplemental the upper ends of the rods M.These short 1 guides O are suitably attached to the timbers C, and theupper ends of the rods M have loops Nform'ed upon them, which claspthese 1 supplemental guides and travel upon them.

formed at the lowerends of these guides. At this time the doors willstand in a vertical the doors open while the cageis passing up betweenthem.

main until the cage has passed. the cage has passed above the doors theaction of the springs upon the backs of the mediately pressed up againstthe lower ends Springs of these lugs by the weight of the closing doorsand follow the cage up to the upper ends of the supplemental guidesuntil the doors are fully closed. WVhen the cage is moving downward, thelower ends of these lugs strike the inner ends of the loops, and, actingthrough the connecting-rods, levers L, and the levers F of the doors,the latter will v be gradually opened as the cage descends, be-

"ing at the same time forced outwardly from the central line by the sideshifting devices,

and before the cages reaches the doors they will again stand in avertical position.

In order to insure the cage passing the tops of the doors, if the lattershould not be sufficiently open to clear the cage the lower ends of thebars I are extended a little below the bottom of the cage and bentinwardly, as

, shown at I, so that these angular extensions the levers F areconnected by rods K with will be the first to touch the tops of thedoors,

if the latter are not sufficiently open, and will These rods conthusinsure their being fully opened, so as to allow the cage to pass withoutstriking them. As the cage passes down between the doors f these bars Ikeep the doors open until the pendent upon the length of the tiltinglevers F the outer ends of the levers will have a con- The outer ends 1cage has passed low enough to allow the doors to begin to close over thecurved upper ends or extensions of these bars, and these curves aresufficiently easy to allow the doorsto close gradually as the cagepasses, the doors being again drawn toward each other by the shiftingdevices, so that when they are fully closed their adjacent edges meetandfully 1 close the opening through which the cage has ,passed.

By fixing the hinge-shaft E above the rear edges of the doors D thefirst movement of opening of the latter will throw the doors away fromthe guides O, and thus allow them As the cage rises and the doors D-open the 1 extensions F of the inner hinges move down-' ward, anddrawing upon the rods K, which against the guides. connect them with thelovers L and through 1 these levers upon the rods M, the loops N are Idrawn downward upon the guides 0 until they reach the offsets or notchesP, which are to be moved away fromv each other by the i shifting deviceswithout binding or friction Having thus described my invention, whatIIclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an elevator, the guide-posts situated upon opposite sides of therectangular well, having the central guide-flanges upon which the cagetravels, doors each of which is adapted to close one-half of the openingthrough which the cage passes, hinge-shafts j journaled upon theopposite sides of the open Upon the sides of the vertical timbers Q ofthe cage are fixed the inclined lugs R, and when these lugs reach theinner ends of the i loops N they press them outwardly into the 1notches,previously described, atthelowerends ot' the supplemental guidesP, where they ref As soon as wardly from their meeting-line, so as topass' the guide-posts when fully opened, and are correspondingly movedtoward each other as they close, substantially as herein described.doors causes them to commence closing promptly, after which their weightwill be suf- 2. In an elevator, the guide-posts set centrally inopposite sides of the rectangular elevator-well with guide-flangesprojecting from their adjacent faces, upon which the elevatorcagetravels, doors hinged to opposite sides of the floor-opening, each ofwhich closes onehalf the opening, angular extensions from the innerhinges of said doors, levers fulcrumed' to the guide-posts and connectedwith said hinges by rods, supplemental guides fixed to the mainguide-posts above these levers, rods connected with the outer ends ofthe levers, having loops N, which clasp the supplemental guides O andtravel upon them, and lugs R upon the cage, which engage these loopsafter the cage has passed above them to allow the doors to be closedgradually by gravitation and which act through the loops upon the doorsto open them when the cage is moving downward and before it reaches thedoor, substantially as herein described.

3. In an elevator, the guide-posts set upon opposite sides of theelevatorwell,-having the projecting central flanges upon which theelevator-cage is guided, side bars fixed to the cage a little to oneside of the line of the guideposts, having the upper ends arched an'dcurving toward each other, the doors hinged at their outer ends andslidable laterally upon their hinge-rods, whereby they are moved out ofcontact with the guide-posts, said arched upper ends acting upon thelower surfaces of g the doors to open them gradually when the cage isrising, and acting in the same manner to allow the doors to graduallyclose after the cage has passed below the doors in its descent,substantially as hereindescribed.

4. In an elevator, the guide-posts set cen trally in opposite sides ofthe rectangular e] ewhich the cage is guided, the doors each oc-vcupying one-half of the elevator-well and hav-' ing a sliding hingeconnection at their outer ends, the supplemental bars fixed to the sidesof the cage, having the upper ends arched to form contact with the lowersides of the doors to open them when the cage rises and to allow them toclose as it descends, extensions I of these bars beneath the bottom ofthe cage inclining inwardly and engaging the edges of the doors as thecage reaches them in its descent, whereby the doors are fully opened forthe passage of the cage,substanti'ally as herein described.

5. In an elevator, the guide-posts situated lipon opposite sides of theelevator-well, a cage adapted to rise'andfall between said guides, doorseachof which closes one-half of the opening through which the cagepasses, hinge-shafts above'the rear edges of the doors, whereby thedoors are moved out'of contact with the guide-posts when they commenceto open, and mechanism by which they are moved sidewise alongthehinge-rods as they are opened, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

' CHARLES P. STANFORD.

WVitnesses: S. H. NOURSE, J. A. BAYLESS.

